Nuno Grilo

Senior iOS & macOS Developer · Swift / SwiftUI · AI Engineering
Fão, Esposende, Portugal• +351 934 568 268• [email protected]• nunogrilo.com
linkedin.com/in/nfgrilo• github.com/nfgrilo• Portuguese• Driving licence: B
Legal name: Nuno Miguel Correia Serra Fernandes
Nuno Grilo

Profile

Senior iOS/macOS Developer with 15+ years building native Apple-platform apps in Swift, SwiftUI and Objective-C — from secure, offline-first enterprise board apps with fully encrypted data stores (Sherpany: ~300K-line codebase, 38 Core Data schema versions in production with zero data loss) and professional macOS developer tools (Paw, acquired by RapidAPI and later Nokia) to Epic, a solo SwiftUI app featured by Apple (73K+ downloads, 4.6/5 from 1,600+ reviews, 99.7% crash-free). 25+ years in software overall, with a current focus on AI engineering and production LLM-powered applications, plus full-stack, edge-first work on Cloudflare Workers, TypeScript and Next.js.

Deep background in Java, web backends, frontends and systems. Co-founder of two companies, Sakai Fellow (2008), and experienced in fully remote, distributed, agile teams. Self-taught since age 8 (BASIC on a ZX Spectrum 48K), Computer Science graduate (2001), with experience across software, telecommunications, electronics, higher education and healthcare — positive, open-minded, determined, and quick to adapt to new technologies, contexts and cultures.

Skills

iOS & macOS Development:

Swift • Objective-C • SwiftUI • UIKit • AppKit / Cocoa • Swift Concurrency • Core Data • SwiftData • Swift Package Manager (modular architecture) • StoreKit 2 • WidgetKit • App Intents • Swift Charts • watchOS • MapKit • PSPDFKit

Apple Tooling & Delivery:

Xcode • Instruments • XCTest • Swift Testing • Fastlane • CI/CD • TestFlight • App Store Connect • ASO • Code Signing • CocoaPods • Carthage

macOS Systems & Reverse Engineering:

XPC / IPC • SMJobBless Privileged Helpers • Mach Code Injection • Sandboxed JavaScriptCore Runtimes • Reverse Engineering Undocumented Binary Formats • Raw-Socket Networking

Security & Encryption:

At-Rest Encryption of Entire Data Stores • Keychain Key Hierarchies • Face ID / Touch ID with Enrolment-State Invalidation • DSA Licensing • GDPR PII Redaction

AI & LLM Applications:

Production LLM Apps • Prompt Engineering • RAG & Semantic Search • Multi-Provider Model Fallback • Tool Use • Structured Output • Speaker Diarisation • Long-Document Analysis • Per-Call Cost Telemetry • Agentic Coding Tools • AI-Driven Automation Pipelines

Web & Backend:

Cloudflare Workers • Hono • D1 • R2 • Queues • Containers • Node.js • Python • Next.js • React • TypeScript • Tailwind CSS • RESTful APIs

DevOps & Tools:

Git • GitHub • Docker • Automated Builds, Deployments & Monitoring • Cloudflare Infrastructure

Programming Languages:

Swift • Objective-C • C • C# • Java • Python • TypeScript / JavaScript • SQL

Databases & Systems:

PostgreSQL • MySQL • MSSQL • SQLite • Windows & Linux Networks • Active Directory

Earlier Stacks:

LAMP (Apache, Nginx, PHP, Perl) • Java (Spring, Hibernate, Apache Wicket, JSF, SOAP, Ant, Maven) • Java Desktop (AWT, Swing, SWT, Eclipse RCP)

Work Experience

Senior iOS/macOS/watchOS Developer, Indie Developer / Freelancer
May 2017 – Present · Remote · own products and freelance work, in parallel with employed roles
Working on own products and as a freelancer across iOS/macOS, full-stack and AI projects.
  • Solo-built and shipped Epic — Surf Report & Forecast in SwiftUI for iOS, watchOS and widgets — featured by Apple in the App Store “Surf's Up” collection: 73K+ downloads, 4.6/5 from 1,600+ reviews, ~1.6K MAU, 99.7% crash-free and 180+ paying subscribers, grown 100% organically.
  • Built a cost-aware forecast pipeline over metered marine-data APIs (StormGlass, WorldTides) with Core Data caching, background ideal-conditions alerts, StoreKit 2 subscriptions and 8-language localisation; modular codebase of ~73K lines of Swift across nine local Swift Package modules; full product ownership (design, engineering, App Store/ASO, paywall, analytics).
  • Building PatternVault — a native macOS app for systematic traders on the modern Apple stack (document-based SwiftUI, SwiftData, Swift Charts, Swift Testing), focused on portfolio analytics and system evaluation.
  • Delivering edge-first full-stack and AI/LLM work (Cloudflare Workers, Hono, D1/R2, Next.js), designing and shipping production-grade LLM features for client products.
AI Engineer / Technical Partner, SCIT Consulting
Feb 2025 – May 2026 · scitconsulting.eu · Europe (remote)
Boutique AI consultancy helping companies across Europe transform with AI — AI-native solutions built with Claude, GPT and Gemini.
  • Designed, built and shipped Juris by AI (jurisby.com), a production AI legal-transcription platform: speaker identification (up to 32 speakers, with party matching), AI legal summaries, contradiction detection across hearings, semantic search, GDPR-compliant redaction and 99-language support.
  • Engineered the full stack: LLM transcription/summarisation pipelines, audio/transcript sync, multi-format export (DOCX/PDF/TXT/JSON), EU-based storage encrypted at rest and in transit and Stripe billing, on Cloudflare Workers, Queues and Docker-based Containers. Also delivered hands-on engineering and technical advisory on client LLM apps, AI agents and automation.
Senior iOS Developer, Sherpany
Sep 2018 – Jul 2021 · sherpany.com · Remote
Secure meeting-management platform for boards, executive teams and committees in regulated industries — iPhone, iPad, web and Windows.
  • Developed Sherpany's secure, offline-first iPhone/iPad apps for boards and executives in regulated industries — highly confidential PDFs that must stay available offline, synchronised meeting flow, digital voting and resolutions.
  • Co-developed encryption at rest for the entire data store: a custom Core Data atomic store that transparently encrypts the whole object graph, with per-document keys wrapped by a master key in the Keychain, behind Face ID/Touch ID + PIN unlock.
  • Contributed to the multi-phase offline sync engine and PSPDFKit-based PDF annotation with encrypted annotation sync.
  • Evolved the Core Data model through 38 schema versions in production with zero data loss.
  • Led release-process automation: introduced Fastlane for iOS CI/CD (modular Fastfile — code signing, gitflow, versioning), replacing a fully manual release — running tests, localised screenshots for multiple devices and languages, compiling and archiving, store version metadata, build upload, processing and submission, and team notifications via email, Slack and Google+ — saving ~2 hours per week.
  • Large-scale, modular codebase: ~300K LOC across ~2,380 source files — main app, notification extensions and 20+ internal Swift Package modules, coordinator architecture and dependency injection — with 1,000+ automated tests and 5 localisations; enterprise customers in a compliance-sensitive domain (ISO 27001 / GDPR).
  • Agile, cross-functional remote teams (product, design, backend, QA).
Senior macOS Developer, Paw SAS
Oct 2015 – Apr 2017 · paw.cloud · Remote
Beautifully designed macOS API tooling. Later acquired by RapidAPI, and more recently by Nokia.
  • Developed Paw, a native macOS HTTP client for API testing and documentation used by thousands of paying developers. Contributed across the ~160K-LOC Objective-C/Swift codebase: a socket-level HTTP stack with full proxy/TLS control, a sandboxed JavaScriptCore extension runtime for user-written extensions, a Git-like document sync engine and Core Data migrations.
  • Designed and open-sourced ThemeKit, a Swift theming framework that powered Paw's light/dark themes — shipped dark mode in production ~2 years before macOS Mojave added system-wide dark mode.
  • Stack: Swift, Objective-C, C, Cocoa/AppKit, Core Data, JavaScriptCore, AFNetworking, PromiseKit.
CTO, Co-Founder, Senior Software Developer, Interacto Labs Inc.
Jan 2008 – Jul 2016 · flavours.interacto.net · co-founded company, run in parallel with other roles
Software company building products for Mac with great user experience.
  • Developed Flavours 2 and Flavours Classic — Mac theming apps (local + online theme store, Photoshop-like editor, background agents, helper tools, dynamic code injection for runtime theming).
  • Reverse-engineered OS X system drawing procedures; built application model, logic, presentation and supporting tools, agents and libraries.
  • Built the server-side application and RESTful API behind the online Flavours Store (PHP, MySQL), plus in-house tooling (PHP, Objective-C).
  • Led company incorporation, IT/dev workflow and strategic direction; server setup and administration (FreeBSD); user support.
IT Director, Software Developer, Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Fão
Nov 2010 – Feb 2012 · Fão, Portugal · Healthcare
Healthcare group with hospital, day nursery, elderly day-care and retirement-home facilities.
  • Owned all company IT assets; led the full replacement of the legacy hospital management system, incl. migration planning and data migration.
  • Server virtualisation (Hyper-V); network design and administration (Active Directory); MSSQL maintenance and optimisation.
  • Built C# desktop apps for internal use and automation scripts (C#, PowerShell); zero-client rollout (NComputing); QA, suppliers and user support.
Analyst / Software Developer, Universidade Fernando Pessoa
Dec 2005 – Oct 2010 · ufp.pt · Porto, Portugal · E-Learning
Higher-education organisation. Led the local Learning Management System (Sakai) implementation and contributed widely to the Sakai project. Appointed Sakai Fellow (2008).
  • Implemented the local LMS with Sakai: setup, configuration and maintenance of dev/production servers (CentOS); QA and deployment of every major/minor upgrade; monitoring; JVM load balancing; MySQL maintenance and optimisation.
  • Developed internal Sakai tools — roster interoperability, single sign-on, enterprise integration, thesis/dissertation supervision tool.
  • Contributed tools, bug fixes and features to the Sakai open-source community; participated in Sakai QA.
  • Researched large RDF datastores for event tracking; spoke at international Sakai conferences; maintained local DSpace (B-Digital) and project wiki documentation.
Software Developer, IT Director, Co-Founder, BlueSpan, Lda.
Sep 2003 – Nov 2005 · Águeda, Portugal · Electronics & Telecommunications
Startup delivering intelligent electronics and telecommunications solutions.
  • Developed a multi-device management platform; specified and implemented custom communication protocols.
  • Java and LabVIEW development; Java desktop apps for internal use.
  • Owned all company IT assets; network design and administration (Linux); QA, suppliers and management tasks.
Software Developer, System Administrator, Multiwave Photonics, S.A.
Dec 2001 – Jun 2003 · Maia, Portugal · Fiber-optic technologies
Startup offering next-generation pulsed fiber lasers and fiber-optic optical sources.
  • Developed device management/configuration software in Java, Java and LabVIEW instrumentation software, and an internal stock-management application.
  • Owned all company IT assets; network design and administration (Active Directory).

Education

Licentiate degree (Licenciatura) in Computer Science — Ciências de Computadores
1996 – 2001 · Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto (FCUP) · Porto, Portugal · Final grade 14/20
Programming, fundamentals, information systems, systems & network administration, web technologies; building computer applications with appropriate choice of algorithms, languages, libraries and user interfaces. Degree certificate available on request.

Certifications & Training

Feb – Mar 2002 —
Certified LabVIEW Developer (CLD) — National Instruments
Oct – Nov 2001 —
ILOG JTGO & JViews Training — IBM ILOG
2001 —
Professional Training Placement (19/20) — Empresa Nacional de Telecomunicações (EFACEC Group)

Languages

Portuguese:
Native
English:
Proficient — C1 listening, reading and speaking; C2 writing (CEFR)

Honours & Awards

Sakai Fellow
2008
Awarded at the 9th Sakai Conference (Paris, June 2008) — recognising innovative and quality contributions to the Sakai (now Apereo) open-source community.

Conference Presentations

Mar 2010 —
“Site Stats — the power of event tracking at a single click in Sakai” — 3rd European Regional Sakai Conference, Valencia
Mar 2010 —
“My students and shared resources — design of a student supervision tool” — 3rd European Regional Sakai Conference, Valencia
Jun 2007 —
“UX at UFPUV — people using Sakai for their context” — 7th Sakai Conference, Amsterdam
Jun 2007 —
“UFP Tools Development” — 7th Sakai Conference, Amsterdam
Jun 2007 —
“Managing large datastores using RDF databases: an experiment in event tracking” — 2.ª Conferência Ibérica de Sistemas e Tecnologias de Informação

Selected Projects

Juris by AI:
AI legal transcription & analysis platform · Cloudflare-native (jurisby.com)
Epic:
Surf Report & Forecast · iOS / watchOS / widgets app · featured in Apple's “Surf's Up” collection
PatternVault:
macOS app for systematic traders · SwiftData / Swift Charts (in development)
Sherpany Boardroom:
Offline-first enterprise iPad app · encrypted Core Data · PSPDFKit annotations
Paw:
macOS HTTP client / API tool · acquired by RapidAPI, then Nokia
ThemeKit:
macOS theming framework (open source)
Flavours 2 / Classic:
macOS theming apps + online store

Additional Information

Soft skills:
High adaptability • Creative problem-solver • Team spirit • Self-organised & disciplined • Focused & dedicated • Entrepreneurial • Works with passion
Communication:
Active Sakai contributor — periodic video-conference meetings, speaking at international conferences, daily community communication via mail/chat.
Interests:
Surfing • Meditation • Technology • Continuous self-improvement

Testimonials

“I had the pleasure of working with Nuno for almost three years on the iOS team at Sherpany, and he is genuinely one of the best engineers I’ve worked with. Nuno combines outstanding technical skills with a very pragmatic mindset. Whenever he took ownership of a task, I knew it would be delivered quickly and, more importantly, done the right way. He consistently found clean, reliable solutions, even for some of the most challenging and business-critical bugs we faced. What I appreciated just as much was how easy he was to work with. Our technical discussions were always thoughtful and productive, and he was consistently kind, approachable, and willing to help anyone on the team. He made the people around him better. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Nuno to any engineering team. If I were building my own company, he would be one of the first people I’d want on the team.” Davide Vincenzi — Software Engineer at Google DeepMind | Building Gemini; worked with Nuno on the Sherpany iOS team (LinkedIn, 2026)
“Nuno is one of those colleagues that will stick to your mind even years after working together. It's not common to find someone who's so curious, eager to find solutions and to do things well, a true engineer. On top of this, he's a wonderful human being and a remarkable colleague — a big plus to any development team that needs heavy cooperation and teamwork.” Ricardo Silveira Antunes — People facilitator while solving challenges | Engineer at heart (LinkedIn, 2026)
“It is also fair to highlight the work carried out by the team responsible for preparing the launch of the Virtual University (UFP-UV) in 2008–09, specifically the operational component with Nuno Fernandes, who the Sakai consortium (MIT; Harvard; Stanford and Michigan) has just appointed Sakai Fellow for his contribution, at UFP, to improving the operationalisation of the e-learning platform we use.” Prof. Doutor Salvato Trigo — Rector, University Fernando Pessoa (UFP News #09, 2008)
“Nuno has been the main technical lead for the UFP's Virtual University project until his departure in Oct 2010. During his time on the project, Nuno showed unrivalled technical, groupwork and personal skills from which not only UFP but the whole Sakai project benefited. It was a pleasure to work with him.” Feliz Gouveia — Associate Professor, University Fernando Pessoa
“Nuno is an excellent professional and good character. He served as principal programmer and produced several tools assisting the UFP Virtual University (UFP-UV) initiative — now part of the Sakai software worldwide. He gained recognition from the Sakai Foundation with the Sakai Fellow in 2008, and consistently proves he has the technical skills and qualities to excel in complex technical projects.” Luís Borges Gouveia — Associate Professor (with aggregation), University Fernando Pessoa
“Nuno is a highly skilled software developer with very good analysis capacity and problem-solving techniques.” David Roldán Martínez — Information Architect & Open Source Project Contributor